Today, March 8 is celebrated all over the world as the International Women’s Day, when women while commemorating their achievements in political, social, economic and other spheres, also call to action for accelerating gender parity. On this important occasion, may I request you to take a look at the performance of a large number of male members of your party, MPs and MLAs with whom you are cooperating on the floors of the legislature, and other male party leaders and activists outside with whom you are fraternizing in public meetings ? Are they accelerating, or destroying gender parity ? Are you aware of the way they behave with other women who are outside your charmed circle of ministers, MPs and MLAs ?
Your leader Narendra Modi is being applauded for appointing eleven women ministers – the highest so far in the history of post-Independence India. He is also nominating a large number of women candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Once elected, they will share the same privileges, benefits – and above all the security – that you enjoy. But what about the rest of the common women who are denied that security ? Incidentally, many among them are victims of sexual assaults by predatory male leaders of your own party, the BJP – as evident from the numerous reports during the last decade. Let me draw your attention to some of these revelations of raping of women by your legislators and prominent leaders, many among whom are facing cases in courts ?
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), analyzing the background of MPs and MLAs after the 2019 elections, revealed that the highest number of those accused of sexual harassment are members of your party. Leading the list of the accused is the BJP MP Bhushan Saran Singh, who has been charged with the crime of sexual harassment of women wrestlers during his tenure as the president of Wrestling Federation of India since 2011. The women wrestlers, along with their male colleagues, sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar, which compelled your government to remove him from the post. But the government replaced him with Singh’s close aide – thus re-fuelling distrust among the women wrestlers who suspect that the new president will continue to follow the same practice of sexual harassment as his predecessor. They have refused to participate in any functions and contests sponsored by him. The next on the list of these BJP sexual predators is Kuldeep Singh Senger, who was an MLA of your party, and was jailed on charges of raping in July, 2017. The latest case is that of the BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, Ramdular, found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl (Indian Express. December 13, 2023). Even when they are not directly accused of rape, some of your MLAs are fond of welcoming rapists into their fold. On August 18, 2022, MLA C.K. Raulji greeted the rapists of Bilkis Bano after their release as `Brahmins who have good Sanskar.’
Don’t you feel ashamed of co-existing with these male colleagues of yours ?
Other leaders and cadres of BJP facing charges of sexual harassment
Let me draw your attention to the other leaders of your party outside the legislature who also face similar charges. They include high profile characters like M.J. Akbar, Shakshi Maharaj, Chinmayanand and Jayesh Patel. But what is further shocking is that your party leaders are defending even those rape-accused who are not officially your members, just because they support your party’s agenda of Hindutva. A typical example is the case of Asharam Bapu, a god-man accused of raping his women disciples, who continues to enjoy patronage by your party’s leaders. Thanks to their patronage, he keeps enjoying privileges in the jail and gaining parole every now and then to meet his disciples.
You should also take a look at the performances of your male cadres at the ground level. In November, 2023, three members of the BJP’s IT cell were hauled up for gang rape in the IIT campus of the Banaras Hindu University. There are also reports, which come out in newspapers, of cases of rapes of Dalit women in villages in BJP-ruled states of UP, MP, by upper caste men who are members of your party. Don’t you feel ashamed of being complicit in these atrocities committed on women by your male leaders and colleagues ?
I as a male observer, feel ashamed and protest against these misdeeds of your male leaders and cadres. But I’m pained by the silence that you as women maintain regarding these cases which affect your own womenfolk, who are victims of sexual harassment by your leaders and cadres .
The shameful role of your party’s female colleagues
But then, while blaming the patriarchal male leaders of your party, I also cannot forgive the role of two of your women representatives who have betrayed the cause of women’s emancipation. The first is Uma Bharti, the BJP vice-president, who came out in defence of the notorious rape-accused Asaram Bapu, alleging that he was a victim of a Congress conspiracy (August 23, 2013). The second is Rekha Sharma, your party’s nominee who has been appointed as the chairperson of the National Commission of Women. In response to a complaint by a Spanish woman tourist who was gang-raped, she came out with this shocking insensitive comment: “Did you ever report the incident to Police ? If not, then you are totally an irresponsible person. Writing only on social media and defaming whole country is no good choice” (March 3, 2024)
I respect you all whom I am addressing, as educated and brave women who have broken the glass ceiling to reach top governing positions in the administration. But then, I feel surprised why you who are expected to be self-reliant, independent-minded, join a party whose leaders and cadres repeatedly violate the rights of women – as evident from the reports cited above. If you have an iota of self respect, and a sense of collective responsibility to your sisters, you should resign from the BJP and give up your ministerial posts.
Sumanta Banerjee is a political commentator and writer, is the author of In The Wake of Naxalbari’ (1980 and 2008); The Parlour and the Streets: Elite and Popular Culture in Nineteenth Century Calcutta (1989) and ‘Memoirs of Roads: Calcutta from Colonial Urbanization to Global Modernization.’ (2016).
